Institutional Racism

INSTITUTIONAL RACISM FROM MY POINT OF VIEW

The topic of institutional racism is a very sensitive one. Therefore I feel it is better if I talk about it via my own personal experience, so that people can begin to understand that it is something evident all over the world, in different societies and cultures. Since institutional racism is something that it derived from a group of people rather than an individual, I would like to bring forth a personal experience of mine from back home. This example may not be directly linked to the educational world however it shows us how it is possible for racism to culminate in areas (such as schools) where large masses gather and can directly influence each other. The institutional racism I would like to talk about relates directly to the political life of Greece which has been extremely turbulent, due to the financial crisis the country has been facing since 2009. Fears of economic collapse, deterioration of the public sector and a corrupt political system that governed the country for almost three decades, caused people to eventually seek solutions in the extremist, radical parties, that they believed could help them overcome their current economic issues and secure the future of the country which had been completely undermined and humiliated. The political instability and societal anarchy brought forth the birth of a political party, called "Golden Dawn", that belongs to the extreme right, supporting ultra nationalistic ideologies that can be directly linked to neo-fascism. Members of this political party would literally hunt down illegal immigrants in big Greek cities in their attempt to "purify" the nation of all those they deemed undesirable. And yet, despite their extremist mentality which obviously promotes racist ideologies (even though they try to conceal it in numerous ways), they have managed not only to gather significant support (in the 2009 elections they managed to attain 10% of the popular vote and thus 10 seats in the Hellenic Parliament), but people now see them as the norm. It is truly incredible!  A political party, fundamentally neo-fascist, supporting ideologies and mentalities that some people over seventy years ago used to conquer the world, murdering millions of people, has become a commonality, a social norm. And this is where I connect it to other incidents of institutional racism, that have ceased in many cases to be evident, because they have been going on for so long, that people have learnt to accept them and see them as something normal so either ignore them completely or completely fail to acknowledge them in fear that they might change the society that we are use to. As if we live in a utopia! I used this extreme example of social institutional racism to prove the point that, even sometimes, the more extreme cases of racism can easily become a part of our every day culture and society to the point where we completely neglect to see it. If history has taught us one thing, it is that institutional racism is something that has existed always, subconsciously as a part of a human society where inequality and indifference are two main characteristics.